In contrast to people meters, which are specifically designed with television viewing behavior data collection and analysis in mind, the main design goal of television set top boxes (“STBs”) is to decode video content necessary for display on a television, and to provide a user interface to that content. In some cases, modern STBs also include features to enhance the television viewing experience. For example, some STBs may, in addition to supporting tuning to enable a television viewer to watch live broadcast content, support electronic programming guides, picture-in-picture functionality, digital video recording (“DVR”) functions, closed captioning, video on demand, and the like.
Although some models of STB may be capable of tracking a viewer's television viewing behavior and reporting it for viewing behavior analysis, this capability is typically implemented as an afterthought. Accordingly, various problems exist for utilizing collected STB data for the analysis of television viewing behavior, such as problems relating to the precision and the reliability of the data.
The problems of collecting viewing behavior data is exacerbated by television service providers that support a diverse array of various STB models produced by various manufacturers. Because of a lack of standardization across the industry, each STB model may present unique challenges such as different reporting formats or capabilities. Moreover, variations may even be present within different STBs having the same model designation, when STBs are allowed to operate on outdated firmware versions.
The need exists for a system that overcomes the above problems, as well as one that provides additional benefits for the collection of usable viewing data. Overall, the examples herein of some prior or related systems and their associated limitations are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of existing or prior systems will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading the following Detailed Description.